Kenosis And The Christian Life

Last updated on: August 26, 2020 at 3:15 am by Henry Karlson

Kenosis And The Christian Life 2020-08-26T03:15:12-05:00 Henry Karlson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Andrew Madekin: Tapestry of St. Seraphim of Sarov with a bear / Wikimedia Commons

Paul tells us to look at the God-man in the incarnation, to contemplate his kenosis, and to use what we see as an example for how we should love: “Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philip. 2:5-7 RSV).

Jesus, the God-man, did not attach himself to his divinity in such a way as to ignore his humanity; rather, he emptied himself, detaching himself from an exclusive engagement with his divinity, so that he could engage creation with his love. This is not to say he no longer was God: he was, and he will always be God. This is not to say he no longer experienced the divine life: he did, but he did not find himself holding to it in exclusivity. His human consciousness, his human mind, experienced the divine life thanks to the hypostatic union, realizing the divine life is the life of love. He lived out that experience by being in the world and working for the salvation of all within it. He did not remain secluded from the world; he took the divine experience with him in all that he did, showing that there need not be any distinction between that experience and his activity in the world. Indeed, if we are careful and pay attention, Jesus consistently showed us that the two go together as one.

If we experience some great mystical experience, if we are lifted up by grace, we should not be attached to the experience, seeking after it in such a way as to have it separate us from the world. We must not retreat from the world in that way. Such a gnostic denial of creation opposes the intention of the incarnation. Rather, we are to take that experience with us, indeed, to find a way to have it always with us while we go out in the world, working the work of Christ in the world, seeking to make it a better place, offering it Christ’s grace. We must avoid self-attachment, where we become so self-absorbed, we ignore the world around us. When we die to the self, when we overcome those attachments which would lead us to close ourselves off from the world, we do not lose the grace which we have received, but rather, we let its effects grow, in us and in the world, so that we do not become stuck in a certain position but rather find ourselves engaging perpetual theosis.

This is not to say there will be no time for us to go on some sort of retreat from the world, but we must remember, we do so to rest, to prepare ourselves for our greater work in and for the world. Jesus, at the beginning of his mission, went into the desert to fast and pray, showing us that we, too, can and should make a time of purification and preparation for ourselves so that we can be open to the grace of God in our lives. We must silence ourselves so we can experience the presence of God. It is there. It is always there with us. What we need to do is find the way to experience it. And this is what such times of purification are about; they allow us to empty ourselves and divest ourselves from all distractions, so that once our undue attachments are set aside, we not only become aware of the presence of God, we will be ready to listen to and follow what God is willing to reveal to us when we experience his presence in our lives. We must learn to deny ourselves, to overcome the inordinate habits of concupiscence; once we have done so, we can learn to live in a radical state of love, a state in which we will always find the experience of God is with us wherever we shall go.

When we begin to experience the glory of God in our lives, and we see some sort of great miracle or blessing coming from it, the worst thing to do is become attached to what experienced, for then we become prideful, and through that pride, become attached to ourselves, losing our proper relationship with God. So many people get lost in spiritual delusion because they allow pride to develop as a result of their spiritual experiences. We must truly learn the way forward is further detachment, further kenosis, so that such pride cannot take root. Once we have learned this lesson, we can truly begin our walk with God. Then we will know that we must follow him wherever he should lead, and that often means, into the world, to be with people, doing what we can to help them instead of being concerned solely on our own private good. If we truly have emptied ourselves of ourselves, we will love others, and in that loving of others, we will find we will not lose our connection with God.

Thus, even great, ascetic saints, great hermits, find themselves challenged to be in the world, working for the benefit of the world; once they have overcome that challenge, their lives become one of constant intercession with God, integrating their experience of God with their actions, so that all they do works to share God’s grace to the world. Likewise, they find themselves often called outside of their retreat from the world, to be in the world, to speak and act from their experience of God, and because their experience is not based upon their retreat from the world but rather what they learned in that retreat, they could and would go into the world, acting on its behalf. St. Anthony the Great left his cell to go into the world to help the confessors and martyrs of the faith, and later, he would do so again to go to Alexandria and help Athanasius in his fight against the Arians. Likewise, St. Seraphim of Sarov, after he found that he truly had acquired the Holy Spirit in his life, knew he could not stay in a retreat from others, and so he opened himself to others so that he could share God’s grace with them:

After five years of this seclusion within the Monastery, St. Seraphim, by a special revelation, opened the door of his cell for all who desired to see him; but still he continued his spiritual exercises without paying any attention to his visitors or answering their questions. After five more years the Mother of God again appeared to him, together with Sts. Onuphrius the Great and Peter of Mt. Athos, instructing him to end his silence and speak for the benefit of others. Now he greets all who came with a prostration, a kiss and the Paschal greeting: “Christ is risen!” Everyone he called “my joy.” In 1825, the Mother of God again appeared to him and blessed him to return to his forest cell.

For the last eight years of his life St. Seraphim lived in the forest of Sarov and received the thousands of pilgrims who came to him to ask his prayers and spiritual counsel.[1]

Nicholas Motovilov was one of those who was welcomed by St. Seraphim, and when he did, he found himself partaking of the vision and experience which St. Seraphim experienced, seeing all things in and through the grace of the Holy Spirit. This was possible once St. Seraphim of Sarov had reached his final stage of spiritual development, when he moved from his seclusion to being open to the presence of others in his life. He found his experience of God not only continued once he moved out of seclusion, but it was something he could share with others, helping them receive, at least in part, the experience which he had experienced, sharing the grace which he had attained so that their lives could be and would be changed. He learned that the final stage is to follow the pattern of the self-emptying of Christ, to divest himself of himself by being with others, and in that way, to truly experience how God makes heaven and earth one.

Jesus, being God and man, continued to experience the glory of his eternity, even in the self-emptying of the incarnation. He shows us that divesting ourselves of ourselves is the proper way to live and thrive. Novices in the spiritual life often get caught up in various experience they have. They need to resist the temptation to hold onto what little they have experienced, making the beginning of their spiritual journey their end. They must not attach themselves to it lest they get caught up in themselves and cut themselves off from God in their pride. This temptation is normal. We see even Peter, James, and John, when they experienced the glory of the transfigured Christ, fell for it, and it was thanks to the guidance which they received and accepted, that they were able to see past the moment and detach themselves from it and leave Mt. Tabor behind. They did not lose what they experienced; rather, by detaching themselves from it, they were able to have the experience continue on with them, to grow with them, so that they finally were able to understand that what they experienced on Mt. Tabor is something they could and would experience everywhere they should go.

This is what we must also learn. We must not try to reify the moment we are in and be stuck in it. We must detach ourselves from it, no matter how great it seems, and when we do, then we are on our way to finding the kingdom of God, realizing it is all around us. What we thought was great will be revealed as nothing in comparison to what we can and will have when we live through true detachment. This means, working for the good of the people of the world, far from diverting us from our spiritual profession, is a part of it. This, again, is what God shows us in the incarnation. He loved the world. The Logos assumed human nature to be in and with the world. He did not ignore the world, he did not to ignore the pain and sorrow of the people of the world; rather, he came to help us all, healing us both in soul and in body. We cannot ignore the suffering of others and think we are truly following the way of Christ. There are, of course, different ways we can be called to work for others. But what must be understood and accepted is that we should seek to make thing better, not just for ourselves, but for all, so that we end up sharing the grace of God with the world, healing it from the defacement of sin. This is why, if we imply the work for social justice, the work for the betterment of the world, is in some way contrary to the spiritual life, we only show ourselves to be like the so-called gnostics of the past, and far from the full realization of the Christian faith. So long as we are attached to ourselves and our own spiritual experiences, seeking to increase them while ignoring the plight of others, we are far from the path of Christ and those experiences are in vain.

[1] Little Russian Philokalia. Volume I: St. Seraphim. Ed. and Trans. Seraphim Rose (New Valaam Monastery, Alaska: St. Herman’s Press, 1991), 19.

Stay in touch! Like A Little Bit of Nothing on Facebook.
If you liked what you read, please consider sharing it with your friends and family!

Previous Post

August 25, 2020

Abba Theon And The Robbers

Next Post

August 28, 2020 Vaccines, COVID19, And The Christian Obligation To Protect Society

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Abraham abuse Aesthetics AI Aliens Ambrose Ancestors and Everything Andrew Angels Animals Anne Anthony Antisemitism apologetics Apophatic Apostle John Aquinas Artificial Intelligence Asanga Ascension Asceticism Assumption Atheism Attachment Augustine Authority Avarice Balthasar Baptism Beauty Biden birthright citizenship Bishops Black History Books Buddhism Bulgakov Byzantine Calendar C.S. Lewis Calcidius Catholic Catholicism Catholicism Celibacy Charity Chastity children Chrismation Christ Christmas Christology Church Climate Change Common Good Communion Confession Confirmation Conscience Constantine conventions conversion councils Covid Creation Cross Dead Death Death Penalty Debate Deception Demagogues Demons Desert Monks Desert Mothers Desire destruction development Dialogue Dignity Dionsyius Dionysius Discipline Diversity Division Doctor Who doctrine dogma Dormition Dualism Easter Easter Series Ecumenical Councils Ecumenism Education Election Empathy Environment Error Eschatology eschaton Eternity Ethics Eucharist Evangelism Eve Evil evolution Faeries Faith Fear femininity Ficino Florence Florensky Folktale Fools Forgiveness Freedom Future gender Gentile Gentiles Glory Gnostic God gods Good Samaritan Goodness Gospel Government Grace Great Fast Guns Hate healing Health Heaven Hell Hellenism Heresy Hierarchy Hildegard Hinduism History Holiness Holy Spirit Holy Week Hope Horror Human rights humanity Humility hypocrisy ICE icon icons Identification Identity Idol II Nicea Immigration incarnation Individualism Informal Reflections Inklings Intention Inter-Religious Interfaith Internet Interpretation Intrinsic evil Irenaeus Islam Israel Jacob Jerome Jesus Jews John Chrysostom John of Damascus John the Baptist Joseph Judaism justice Justification kenosis Kindnesss Kingdom of God Kingdom of Heaven Law Law of Moses Lazarus Leaf by Niggle Lent Lenten Reflection Liberation Theology Lies Life Listen Literature Liturgy locutions Logic Logos Love Marriage Martyrs Mary Mass Maximos The Confessor Meanness Meditation Mercy Middle Path Migrants Mind Miracles Miriam Morals Moses Movies Music Muslims Myths Names Nationalism Native Americans New Year Nicea Nicholas Nothing Novatian Obedience Occam's Razor Ordination Origen Original Sin Orthodox orthopraxis Pagans Palamas Palm Sunday Paradise Paschaltide Paul Peace Pentecost person Peter piety PKD Plato pluralism Plurality Poem Poetry Poiltics Politics Poor Pope Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV Post Office Prayer Pride Pro-life Prodigal Son propaganda Prophecy Prophets Providence Putin Racism Reading Reason Reflection Refugees Relationships Religion Religion Series Religious Liberty Repent Republicans Rest Resurrection Rich Rites Russia Sacraments Saints Salvation Salvian Santa Science Scripture Self-Giving Sexuality Sibyl Sick Silence Sin Singlehood Social Justice Society Sodom Solovyov Speculations Spiritual Reflection St. Cyril of Alexandria St. Justin Martyr Suffering Sunday of the Paralytic Man Sunday of the Samaritan Woman Superhero Supreme Court Teaching Technology Thanksgiving The Father the Universe Theological Reflection Theology Theosis Theotokos Thomas Timaeus Time Tolerenace Tolkien Tradition Transfiguration Trinity Trump Truth Uncategorized Unity Universities USCCB Value Vatican II Vegetarian Vices Violence Virtue Vocations War Water Welcome Wisdom Womanhood Women Work World View Worship Writing Zacchaeus

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz